ITV has revealed plans to sell its London headquarters as it abandons its major five-year modernisation of the studios and offices.
The broadcaster announced in February 2017 that it would move out of the South Bank studios by mid-2018 for the redevelopment to take place.
The intention was to create a “modern, purpose-built HQ” with all of the broadcaster’s London-based staff on one site for the first time.
ITV had fully moved out of the site by April this year with its daytime shows, including Peston on Sunday (now Peston), Good Morning Britain and This Morning, setting up at BBC’s former Television Centre in White City.
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The broadcaster won planning permission earlier this year to demolish the existing buildings on the South Bank site and build two new buildings to create 3,634 square metres of TV studios alongside offices and 213 flats.
However it confirmed today that it planned instead to market the site for sale and remain at what had been thought to be its temporary locations.
A spokesperson said: “Since the original decision to redevelop the South Bank site, ITV has launched its new strategy and has successfully moved to new office space in Holborn and studios in W12.
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“These provide excellent modern, functional and flexible working environments.
“ITV needs to ensure that its property portfolio in London supports the new strategy by giving flexibility to continue to grow, while supporting our ambition to be an agile and increasingly digital organisation.
“By remaining in our current London office and studio spaces we can focus more time and resource on the areas of the business which will deliver greatest value.”
ITV launched its new strategy to “address the opportunities and challenges of the competitive media landscape” alongside the release of its interim results for the six months to the end of June this year, it said.
The broadcaster said the refreshed strategy would make it “more resilient” by making £35m-£40m in cost savings from 2019 to 2021, with an additional £15m in 2019.
It also said it is looking to make double-digit online revenue growth each year to the end of 2021, and make £60m in investments over the period.
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